This application relates generally to electric heater units for air handlers, and more specifically to apparatuses and methods for reducing the overall size of electric heater units and to reduce their cost to manufacture.
Conventional electric heaters for heating air in air handlers for residential and commercial heating ventilation and air conditioning (“HVAC”) systems, electric heat laundry dryers, in-line duct heaters, air curtains, blow dryers, hand dryers, toasters, kitchen appliances and the like typically include one or more electrical resistance wires, often formed in the shape of a coil. Such coils are typically supported by ceramic insulators at discrete, space-apart intervals. To minimize span-wise coil deflection or deformation that may occur due to the heat generated when the wires are electrically energized from electrical current flowing therethrough, the resistance wires may be formed from nickel chromium alloys, which are relatively durable materials known to be resistant to heat and deflection over many thermal cycles and which assist in retaining the shape of the coil. However, nickel and chromium are both susceptible to market price fluctuations, and their inclusion in the composition of the resistance wire may increase the overall cost of each electric heater unit. Moreover, the width of electric heaters cannot easily be reduced because the size of a given electric heater is dictated, in part, by the desired heat output, which is a function of the length, material, diameter (e.g., the wire gauge), and geometry of the coiled wire of the resistive heating element.